PANEL HOUSING PLUS

Panel Housing Plus | 2016

Latvia’s shift from a centrally planned economy under Soviet occupation to the total embrace of market logic in 1991 unleashed customisation within the home but failed to produce diversity at the urban scale. 1991 also marked the end of the first microrayon construction system’s projected 50 year life span.

Drawing inspiration from the Soviet ‘Construction Rules and Norms Handbook,’ my jubilee edition celebrates the building system’s endurance. The manual is a tool for residents and municipalities alike to realise their desires for diversity. The manual comprises a catalogue of elements, based on the multiplication possibilities of a single tessellated shape, as well as instructions on how to develop a project.